Doing Good with Good OR - Application Process

Submission Process

• Nomination letter by the partner organization or a faculty member describing the societal impact of the work and the portion of the work (including the project duration) solely completed by the student entrant(s) during the time they were enrolled full-time in a degree-granting program (undergraduate or graduate).
• Two-or three-page summary document that describes what the entrants accomplished (focusing on the societal impact and the centrality of the operations research and management science tools used).
• 60-word abstract of the achievement
• Submissions should be e-mailed to either of the Prize Competition co-chairs listed below.
• Finalists (announced by 'to be determined' 2013) must submit no later than 'to be determined' a full paper (a maximum of 25 pages, double spaced, 12 point font) describing the project and its outcomes.
• Entrants will be expected to report on a project done in partnership with an organization that can certify that the results of the project have had, or are likely to have, a significant societal impact.
• Any work with positive societal impact that has been completed within the last 3 years (class project, thesis research, independent study, internship, voluntary work) is eligible unless it has already received an INFORMS award.

Timeline 

• SUBMISSION DATE - TO BE ANNOUNCED
  To Be Announced, 2013 - Submit application (a nomination letter by the partner organization or a faculty member involved in the project, a 60-word abstract describing the achievement of the research, and a 2-3 page summary of achievements focusing on the societal impact and the centrality of operations research) to either of the Prize Competition co-chairs listed below.
• To Be Announced, 2013 – Finalists will be announced.
• To Be Announced, 2013 - Finalists must submit a full paper.
• October 6-9, 2013 - Annual INFORMS Conference, Finalist presentations (3 presenters per session, 6-8 finalists)
• October 6-9, 2013 - Annual INFORMS Conference, First prize announcement (the winner will be chosen after the presentations)

Qualifications of Entrants

• Main contributor(s) must be a full-time student(s) (undergraduate or graduate) in a degree-granting program during the period in which the study was performed
• Partner organization may be non-profit organization, government, or a for-profit company (a project for a for-profit firm must take care to demonstrate social significance beyond increased revenues or reduced costs)
• Other contributors may include:
  • Members of the partner organization
  • Faculty advisor(s)
  • Note: The nomination letter should clearly state the percentage of the work that is attributed to the student(s)
• The project submitted must not have won a prize nor been a finalist in a previous Doing Good with Good OR student competition.
• Study should be completed within the last 3 years.
• No student entrants will be allowed to be a contributor on more than one project

Judging Criteria

Entrants will be expected to report on a completed, practical application and must describe results that had significant, verifiable and preferably quantifiable societal impact. Societal impact should be construed to mean an impact on individuals, communities and organizations that goes beyond that associated with a private-sector for-profit initiative. The criteria used in judging the entries include the following:

1. Implementation. Is the work implemented and in use?
2. Impact/Value. What are the major quantified (e.g., lives saved, increased number of people with access to clean water, improved literacy rates) and non-quantified (e.g., process streamlined, delivery systems improved) impacts of the work? How important was the work to the partner organization and/or society?
3. Technical Solution. Is there a technical innovation in the project? Innovation may stem from the creation of new methods as well as the application of existing methods to new problems or new environments
4. Difficulty. What political, technical, and social challenges had to be overcome in completing the project?
5. Transportability. Is this work portable to other applications?

Meeting criteria 1 and 2 above is essential; the work must have been implemented and resulted in significant benefit. Criteria 3 to 5 are important but finalists need not necessarily be strong in all categories. The competition is open to students enrolled full-time in degree-granting programs.

Finalists

• Finalists will be encouraged to consider submitting their paper or extended abstract for peer review to an appropriate INFORMS journal.
• An OR/MS Today article will feature the finalist.
• Finalists will present their work at INFORMS Annual Meeting during special sessions.
• The winner will be announced after the presentations at the INFORMS Annual Meeting and will receive an award.
• There will be a cash award for the winner as well as the finalists.
• If all submissions are judged by the selection committee to be of insufficient quality to select finalists, the selection committee may declare that the competition is deserted for the current round.

The Prize Committee

• The committee of judges for the award should consist of 1 chair and at least 5 members. The committee members should represent diverse interests and expertise.
• Prize committee members will serve for three years with overlapping terms; therefore membership of about one-third of the committee will change every year.
• The chair will be nominated by the current prize committee (initially by the current committee tasked with founding this competition) from among the longest serving members and will be appointed by the Vice President for Membership and Professional Recognition, in consultation with the President. The prize committee chair will then choose the remaining committee members in consultation with the existing prize committee.
• Each committee member will participate in the review of the submissions.

Conflicts of Interest

• If a committee member has a conflict of interest (defined herein), then an alternate committee member must be appointed for that year to serve temporarily in his/her place. Any committee member who has a conflict of interest should inform the chair of the prize committee no later than January 1 preceding deliberations and the committee chair must appoint an alternate committee member for that year to serve in his/her original role.
• The Vice President for Membership and Professional Recognition must approve all newly appointed committee members and alternates.
• Definition of Conflict of Interest:
  • It is important to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest in the evaluation of any submission to an award committee. A problem arises when any member of an award committee has a past or current relationship with a contender, the partner/client organization or the contender's university that might influence the voting process (positively or negatively) for reasons other than the merits of the case relative to the award. It is the responsibility of each committee member to bring to the attention of the committee chair any relationship that might be viewed as a conflict of interest.
  •  The committee chair should evaluate each case on its merits, and if a potential conflict is deemed to exist, propose a response that ensures that the final decision of the committee is free of any apparent conflict. On large, award committees that have to judge many nominees, it is acceptable for a judge with an acknowledged conflict with a nominee to participate in preliminary screening, but if that nominee survives the screening phase, then the judge with the conflict must be excused from further participation. If the potential conflict involves the committee chair, the chair should discuss this with the Vice President for Membership and Professional Recognition to determine an appropriate response.

2013 Committee Co-Chairs:

Laura McLay
Associate Professor
Virginia Commonwealth University
1015 Floyd Ave
Box 843083
Richmond, VA 23116
e-mail: lamclay@vcu.edu
voice: +1 (804) 828-5842
fax: +1 (804) 828-8785

Jeremie Gallien
London Business School
Regent's Park
London, NW1 4SA 
United Kingdom
e-mail: jgallien@london.edu
voice: +44 (0)20 7000 8809